Those are good examples, but a 58 Lincoln was a luxury car and unlike most, well unless you lives in the south, many cars didn't have air. The original T-Birds were relatively small cars for the USA and there wasn't a lot of room under the hood.
I think the trend really started with CAFE and EPA like standards. Much like our bikes, AI, carb to EFI, and even the "d" tool needed to adjust AF mix. Of course the powers that be forget how innovative we surfs are.
